Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 18. March 2022
God says in his book, in Surah Al Hadid, “We have sent our messengers with the evidence, with the path, with the roadmap, with the real guide to enlightenment, to awareness. And we sent with our messengers the Book.” It is amazing that God parallels “the Book” with al-mizan: the balance, the scale. “We have sent our messengers with the guidance to enlightenment and we have sent the Book, and what we sent with the Book is the scale of justice.” As Muslims, we pass over these verses...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 11. March 2022
It is not an exaggeration to say iman (faith) - that most basic, core thing - is the seed for everything that has to do with our Islam; within everything that has to do with our relationship with God, with the Prophet, with the history of Islam, with the tradition of Islam. At the very heart and core of iman is a very important concept, that being to trust. Someone may claim, "I believe" but at the same time, they do not trust that God knows what is good for them or for others. They do not...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 04. March 2022
There are those who understand that their relationship with their Lord, with God, is the most personal thing in their universe. It is the most central thing, valuable and valued thing. It cannot be replicated, compared or reproduced. The relationship of a believer with their Maker is extremely personal and individual, as individual as one’s genetic code, or even more. It is the most truthful, real, honest and sincere thing in existence. Yet at the same time, it is the thing that we most...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 07. January 2022
There is an interesting story receiving a modest amount of attention in the regular sources of media in the world; but if things were as they should be, this story would receive a great deal of attention. In the European Union, there is a system by which European countries have a revolving system of presidency over the European Union (EU). So, in six month periods, different countries have the opportunity to assume the official role of being the president of the European Union. Currently,...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 26. November 2021
This week, the Usuli Institute was blessed with beautiful people visiting it.These truly, distinctly beautiful human beings that have honored Usuli with their visit has allowed me to dream that Usuli's voice will live on. The Usuli Institute should be a home for people who care; for intelligent people, for inquisitive people, for rational people, for reasonable people, for people who understand that Islam is about living beyond yourself and for others than yourself. It is for people who...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 19. November 2021
One of the very basic, and perhaps even theoretically undeniable moral precepts, is the equal value ascribed to human life. That at least at an abstract level, human beings are obliged to agree with what constitutes in religious traditions generally, often an article of faith, that God is the maker of human beings and that God made human life equal in sanctity to one another; that the sanctity of human life is undifferentiated and invariable. Often, especially in the modern age, this preset has...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 12. November 2021
The Supreme Court of the United States is obviously one of the most influential institutions in this country, if not in the entire world. Each year, the Supreme Court hears arguments in a select number of cases. Eventually, it decides upon the cases it has selected to hear and issues an opinion. The opinions of the Supreme Court influence and affect the way that all people in the United States get to build their lives. The Supreme Court, the third branch of government in the US, yields a...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 05. November 2021
It is not an exaggeration to say that the biggest challenge that confronts us collectively as Muslims can be summed up as a challenge of the formation of Muslim consciousness. Week after week, day in and day out, what we are actually struggling for is the shape and the content and the nature of Muslimconsciousness. As much as we believe in Islam as an objective truth in our hearts and in our intellects, what we do with this objective truth that we believe in is between us and God. But what we...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 29. October 2021
God reminds us on many occasions in the Qur'an of basic, foundational truth - truths that are so foundational and so basic that that are like the elementary building blocks of consciousness. Among these basic foundations is that believers - both men and women – support each other (Q9:71). A wali (pl. awliyaa) is not just an ally or supporter, but someone who has a privity of relationship with you so that there is a reciprocal obligation of caretaking. In other words, they become responsible...
Friday Khutbahs (Sermons) · 22. October 2021
Every week when I stand on this podium, there is the often weighty decision of what topics to address. This podium is the podium of the Prophet Muhammad. Anyone that stands before the congregation on Friday, anyone that chooses to go through the process of delivering a khutbah is assuming that podium and the responsibility that goes with it. It is the responsibility to be the voice of truth and goodness in the Muslim Ummah and to speak against what is wrong in the Muslim Ummah. So, what stands...